21st December, 2021
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has berated President Muhammadu Buhari over failure to probe the gruesome murder of Nigeria’s former Attorney General, Bola Ige and other political assassinations.
Soyinka, in a text delivered at the 20th Year of Bola Ige Memorial Symposium, “Two Decades of Justice: What are the Implications of Nigerian Democracy,” lamented that Buhari had promised to institute probe in political killings before coming to power and wondered what had become of such promise.
Soyinka was not present at the event as he wrote a letter to the daughter of Ige, Mrs Funsho Adegbola over his absence, but he made his speech available.
Soyinka asked: “President Muhammadu Buhari, what has become of your robust pledge to open an enquiry into the spate of political murders that the nation has undergone in recent years? Does it all amount to yet another instance of political bravado?
“While we all accept that all lives should be valued equally, some impose a special responsibility on those in governance. Bola Ige, as the nation’s Minister of Justice, and United Nations’ civil servant designate, was unarguably one such.”
Soyinka said a nation’s honour is in question and remained so until the hour of closure.
“Thus, she must never relent in demanding an explanation for his brutal murder, expose the perpetrators, identify the conspirators and reinstate the broken lines of justice.
“At the very least, we need a formal declaration regarding those who displayed an abnormal interest in the fates of those accused, to a level of proven, documented interference both in the investigative process, and within the judiciary. I am not alone in having written and lectured on these sordid aspects that fuelled the subversion of justice. there are surviving witnesses,” he added.
According to Soyinka, unsolved crimes only lead to a culture of impunity, as this put the entire nation at risk, no matter the privilege of high-level protection.
“This is a lesson that Nigerian leadership has yet to learn. President Buhari, share the rewards of your investigations–if any,” he added.